CHRIS KUTSCHERA 30 YEARS of JOURNALISM (Texts and Photos)

www.Chris-Kutschera.com

FRANCE: Murky Business
behind the Halal Label.

Nobody
knows exactly how many Muslims live in France, but according
to various estimates, they number about four million --
out of a total population of 60 million. If all are good
Muslims, and eat only “halal” meat -- the meat
of animals that have been ritually slaughtered -- it means
that halal meat could account for at least 10% to 15% of
the French national market.

In the north eastern districts of Paris where immigrants
are concentrated, such as boulevards Belleville, Menilmontant,
Villette, almost all the butcher shops carry signs such
as “Halal Butchery” and “Muslim Butchery”.
Abandoned by their traditional customers who now buy 80
per cent of their meat in large department-stores, French
butchers are selling their shops to Muslim immigrants.

Not 10% of the “halal” meat in France is
really “halal”

Most muslim religious leaders and French experts agree
that not more than 5% to 10% of the meat sold as “halal”
in France is really “halal”. “Between
90 and 95 per cent of the meat sold in “Muslim”
butcher shops is not “halal”, said a spokesman
from the Ministry of Agriculture. “A butcher buys
one sheep that has been slaughtered ritually by a Muslim
clerk, and displays it prominently in the window, with its
blue and green stamps. But all the other meat that is sold
in the shop comes from the wholesale market at Rungis, near
Paris and is definitely not “halal”.

Larbi
Kechat, the rector of the “Ad Dawa mosque”,
known as the Stalingrad mosque, one of the biggest in Paris,
agrees that a “very large percentage of shops sell
meat that is not really “halal”. “Because
everybody knows now that Islam brings money. These people
want to grow rich at any cost”.

Paradoxically, the problem of the false halal meat in a
country which is both secular and christian by an outstanding
majority, has become a national issue. First, because like
all labels, “halal” falls under French law,
which prohibits the cheating of the consumer and the selling
of a product that is not what it claims to be. Secondly,
because huge amounts of money are involved. And thirdly,
because this problem touches the sensitive issue of the
organisation of the muslim community in France.

How to kill “halal”

To
be qualified as “halal”, the meat must come
from an animal that is not “haram” -- or forbidden
-- for example, pig. It must also come from an animal slaughtered
by a Muslim, who cuts the throat of the animal so that it
bleeds to death, faced towards Mecca. The slaughterer
must also offer the prayer “Bismilla Rahim wa Allah
Akbar” (In the name of Allah, Allah is great). In
all European countries and in France in particular, the
killing of animals for meat consumption is regulated by
many laws and decrees that aim at protecting the consumer
-- and his health -- and the animal from suffering. Normally,
animals are killed by a mechanical or an electric shock.
But special dispensations are granted to slaughterhouses
that cater for the Jewish and Muslim communities.

This raises technical problems: since the animal dies by
bleeding, it slows down the production of the slaughterhouse
-- 25 cattle are killed each hour, for example, instead
of 30. When it comes to chickens, two men can slaughter
ritually between 1.000 and 2.000 chicken each hour, instead
of 6.000 when it is done automatically. In 1980 a decree
was passed ruling that animals can be ritually slaughtered
only by people “qualified by registered religious
organisations”, and that such organisations must be
“registered by the Ministry of Agriculture”.

Who controls the “controllers”?

To keep checks on the slaughterers and the meat a new profession
was born -- that of “controller”. These controllers
ensure that the animal is killed ritually, and authentification
stamps are placed on various parts of the carcass, as a
guarantee. All these organisations have one thing in common:
they charge the slaughterhouse for this control. It can
be a yearly fee of up to 36.000 F, or a daily tax of around
800 F, a tax per animal or per kilo. In turn, the slaughterhouse
passes the charge on to the butcher, who charges the consumer.

In just a few years, numerous organisations of “controllers”
have been set up and competition between them is stiff:
AVS, linked to the FNMF (National Federation of the Muslims
of France); BARAKA, close to the UOIF (Union of Islamic
Organisations in France); AL TAKWA; GUII (Grouping of Islamic
International Unions); CIAM (Islamic Center of Alpes Maritimes,
a department in south-eastern France); LICOM, GISCOM (Islamic
Grouping of Muslim Slaughterers and Controllers), BCAAR
(Office of Alimentation Control and Religious Authentification)
etc... The list of these self-proclaimed associations
without legal status is endless.

Besides the French internal market, there is another market,
halal meat for export to North Africa and the Middle East,
which amounts to about 200.000 tons of meat and 200.000
tons of chicken, according to estimates made by the ministry
of Agriculture. Again various organisations of “controllers”
check the meat is ritually slaughtered and get paid for
doing so. Due to the fact that huge tonnages are involved,
the tax is “only” a few cents (0,02 to 0,05
FF) for each kilo.

French officials and muslim leaders agree that most of
these organisations are working more for the money than
for the welfare of the muslim community. One in particular
has been the subject of controversy. According to most observers,
the organisation is doing serious work, inspecting the slaughterhouses
as well as the butcher shops, to make sure that they sell
only “halal” meat. But there are also a number
of rumours. According to various sources, the organisation
also takes money, under the table, both from the slaughterhouses
and from the butchers shops.

Khalil Merroun, the Moroccan-born rector of the Islamic
Centre of Evry, does not hesitate to condemn “controllers”
who threaten the butchers, saying: “if you do not
take our meat, we will tell the people your meat is not
“halal”. In less diplomatic words, French Interior
Ministry officials speak of a “racket”!

These organisations of controllers are also actively trying
to get into the export market. SOCOPA, the leading French
exporter, is exporting 110.000 tons of meat a year, and
about half of it is “halal”. BIRET International
is exporting a little less than 15.000 tons of meat per
year, and ARCADIE about 7.500. France is also exporting
large amounts of chicken to North Africa and the Middle
East, some 200.000 tons a year, of which 100.000 tons are
exported by a single company, DOUX, from Brittany. Obviously,
it is a juicy market for “commissioners”.

Non content with French assurances, Iran imposes its own
strict guidelines on French meat exports. Contracts for
the Islamic republic are negotiated directly with the French
government, which directs Iranian importers to recommended
meat exporters. Iran then sends a large team to France
including a veterinarian, several officials working for
IMO (Iran Meat organisation) and an Imam. The Imam visits
the slaughterhouse, tests the slaughterers, and checks the
whole process at every stage. The end “halal”
certificates carry three different signatures.

At the other end of the spectrum, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia
are satisfied with importing meat provided it carries the
stamp “halal”. According to persistent rumours,
clever Algerian businessmen based in Marseille import boat
loads of meat from Argentina, and re-export it straight
to North Africa after a local Imam puts the stamp “halal”
on the documents in return for a generous stipend...

The “monopoly” of the Big Mosque of Paris

It was to clarify this unhealthy situation that the French
government issued on 15 December 1994 a decree, known as
the “Decree Pasqua”, acknowledging the Big Mosque
of Paris as the only organisation qualified to nominate
slaughterers and to control their work.

All the other Muslim organisations in France were furious
and, denouncing the Big Mosque’s “hegemony”,
announced they would boycott the product. The uproar was
such that Jean-Louis Debré, the new French Minister
of Interior, postponed the implementation of the decree,
which has never been heard of since.

More than 1.300 muslim associations are registered in France,
with not less than 48 in the city of Marseille. All have
their own opinion on the matter, all are aware that ultimately
it is the man in the street who is being forced to pay the
price of the bribery and corruption.

“The only way is to force all those who are fighting
-- the three main groups, the Big Mosque of Paris, the FNMF
and the UOIF, to sit around a table and talk”, says
Larbi Kechat, rector of the Ad Dawa mosque of Paris. “It
is high time to establish priorities and to allocate tasks,
to solve the problem of the halal meat and to organize an
authentic islamic teaching”. But many believe the
war has only begun.